Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes

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The CMRI Sisters will be making a novena in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes for the nine days preceding her feast on February 11, on which day they will honor her in a special way in their prayers and at Holy Mass. If you have any prayer intentions you would like them to commend during the novena, you are welcome to send them in to the Sisters using the form at the right. (N.B.: A donation is customary but is not obligatory).

Among the most well known of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary are those of Lourdes, France, where she appeared 18 times to a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, between February 11 and July 16, 1858. The mysterious vision Bernadette saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle, where she and friends had gone to gather firewood, was that of a young and beautiful Lady “lovelier than I have ever seen,” said the child. She described the Lady as clothed in white with a blue sash around her waist and a Rosary hanging from her right arm. Now and then the Lady spoke to Bernadette, asking her to continue to come to the grotto, and to do penance for poor sinners.

One day the Lady told the girl to drink from a fountain within the grotto. Since Bernadette knew of no such water source, she scratched at the ground where the Lady indicated, and there a spring bubbled up and soon gushed forth. On another occasion the Lady bade Bernadette go and tell the priests that she wished a chapel to be built on the spot and processions to be made to the grotto. At first the parish priest said he would not believe it unless the Lady told Bernadette her name. After another apparition, Bernadette reported to him that the Lady told her, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Although the girl was unfamiliar with the term, the Pope had declared the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in 1854.

Grotto at Lourdes, France Four years after Bernadette’s visions, in 1862, the bishop of the diocese declared the faithful “justified in believing the reality of the apparition” of the Lady. A basilica was built upon the rock of Massabielle by M. Peyramale, the parish priest, and pilgrimages were inaugurated. Three years later the basilica was consecrated and the statue solemnly crowned. In 1883 the foundation stone of another church was laid, as the first was no longer large enough. It was built at the foot of the basilica and was consecrated in 1901 and called the Church of the Rosary. Pope Leo XIII authorized a special Office and a Mass in commemoration of the apparition, and in 1907 Pope Pius X extended the observance of this feast to the entire Church. It is now observed on February 11. Today, Lourdes is the most popular place of pilgrimage in the world. Reproductions of the grotto have been built in many places including our own beautiful one here at Mount St. Michael.
 

 
Novena Prayers
 
“Thou hast visited the earth and hast plentifully showered it with blessings; thou hast enriched it in many ways” (Ps. 64:10).

Today the glorious Queen of Heaven appeared on earth; today she brought to her people words of salvation and tokens of peace; today choirs of angels and of the faithful are filled with joy as they praise the Immaculate Conception.
Glory be to the Father...

Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the original stain is not in thee. “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou art the joy of Israel; thou art the honor of our people” (Judith 15:10). Truly happy art thou, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise, who with thy virginal foot hast crushed the serpent’s head. Hail Mary...

O Virgin Mary, God most high has blessed thee more abundantly than all other women on earth. This day the Lord has honored thee so much that thy praise will never cease to be on the lips of men. O Mary, perform miracles and work marvels anew! Make thy power appear glorious! Hasten the time of our deliverance and be mindful of thy promises. Let mankind proclaim thy wondrous deeds. Hail Mary...

O Mary, from the very beginning thou wast the Lord’s and He loved thee with eternal love. Call upon the Lord and speak to the King in our behalf. Deliver us from death! Hail Mary...

Mary speaks:
“I chose this place and made it holy, in order that my name might be honored there, and my eyes and my heart might remain there forever” (2 Para. 7:16).
“My delights were to be with the children of men” (Prov. 8:31).

Hymn
O stainless Mother of the Lord,
While we thy glory chant,
A gracious ear to us accord
And heavenly favor grant.
 
A sad inheritance we own -
In guilt our lives begin;
Exempt from Adam’s fall alone,
Thou never knewest sin.
 
Prone on the earth beneath thy heel
The serpent’s head remained;
Thou only dost to heaven reveal
An origin unstained.
 
Do thou, whose glory takes away
The shame of Mother Eve,
Accept the tribute that we pay
And all our wants relieve.
 
From Satan’s every dart and snare
Our weakened souls defend,
That so thy glory we may share,
In joys that never end.
 
To Thee, O Jesus, glory meet,
The Virgin Mary’s Son;
To Father and to Paraclete
Be equal honor done. Amen.
 
℣. Let me praise thee, O holy Virgin.
℟. Give me strength in my conflict with thine enemies.
 
Let us pray. O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary didst prepare a worthy dwelling for Thy Son, we humbly beseech Thee that we who celebrate the Apparition of the same Virgin, may obtain health of mind and body. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.